Tampa Bay's Gulf Beaches follows the fascinating development of the beach strip along the Gulf of Mexico, from Pass-a-Grille to Clearwater Beach, from its early settlement in the late 1800s until its blossoming as a tourist haven after World War II. This famous beach strip is the pride of residents and a premier destination for beach lovers worldwide with its miles of white sand and glorious sunsets. History shows that just a century ago the strip was largely a vast wilderness visited primarily by fishermen and a few adventurous bathers and sightseers. Over the years, curiosity gradually gave...

In the early 1900s, St. Petersburg, located on Florida's sunny Gulf Coast, was a place where dreams came true, where fortunes were won, and where thousands came to bask in the city's golden glow. "The Sunshine City" became its nickname and the advertising mantra that helped catapult St. Petersburg from a sleepy backwater of Tampa and a struggling rail stop to one of the nation's most popular tourist destinations. By the 1920s--often referred to as Florida's boom era--St. Petersburg saw fast and furious growth as the city's most significant institutions, buildings, and attractions came into...

Florida in the late 1800s was a paradise waiting to be discovered. During this period, two visionary tycoons of the Gilded Age set out on separate ventures that would transform the Sunshine State from Americas last frontier into a destination for the rich and famous. The grand hotels that Henry M. Flagler and Henry B. Plant opened at their planned resort sites offered a fantasy stay surrounded by all the accoutrements expected by sophisticated, Gilded Age patrons. Floridas Grand Hotels from the Gilded Age provides a look at these magnificent structures during their glory years, along with the...